Comparative Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Studies of Water Permeability of Red Blood Cells from Maternal Venous Blood and Newborn Umbilical Cord Blood

Comparative morphological and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) measurements of the diffusional permeability (Pd ) were performed on red blood cells (RBCs) from maternal venous blood and fetal RBCs, isolated from cord blood taken at delivery. Fetal RBC had a diameter of 8.79±0.03 μm (mean±standard deviation, SD), a volume of 103 μm3 and a surface area of 157 μm2. We report here the first comparative measurements of Pd of maternal and fetal RBCs by using a Mn2+-doping NMR technique. The values of Pd were, in the case of maternal RBC, 3.7 × 10−3 cm/s at 15 °C, 4.1 × 10−3 cm/s at 20 °C, 4.9 × 10−3 cm/s at 25 °C, 5.2 × 10−3 cm/s at 30 °C and 7.2 × 10−3 cm/s at 37 °C. For fetal RBC all corresponding Pd values were almost half, namely 2.0 × 10−3 cm/s at 15 °C, 2.3 × 10−3 cm/s at 20 °C, 2.8 × 10−3 cm/s at 25 °C, 3.4 × 10−3 cm/s at 30 °C and 4.4 × 10−3 cm/s at 37 °C. The decreased Pd values of fetal RBCs were probably due to lower channel-mediated water permeability compared with adult RBCs. The values of the activation energy for water permeability (Ea,d ) were significantly higher for fetal RBCs (27.6±5.0 kJ/mol) than for adult RBCs (22.8±2.7 kJ/mol). A positive correlation between the Pd values of the two kinds of RBCs was found. This points to the genetic basis for the determination of RBC water permeability.